Chapter 431 - Legendary

Leonel raised his eyebrows, clearly having not expected Arthur to come to a decision so quickly.

In fact, the most surprised were those from the hidden families. They had come here with a lot of confidence and the only reason they hadn't interrupted during the extended silence was to give Arthur some space and respect.

Negotiations were meant to be like a game of tug of war. A single volley of arguments should have never been enough to close the subject completely. They had expected Arthur to have some back and forth discourse with Leonel first before tracking back to them. Then, they could try to rebuttal some of Leonel's views.

But, instead of any of that happening, King Arthur shut it all down from the beginning. In fact, he didn't even pause to have a conversation with his court ministers either. He just directly made the decision before them all.

It was no surprise, then, that even the court ministers were shocked. The only one that didn't seem to have a violent reaction was Lancelot.

He sighed deeply, closing his eyes. He sank back into his chair.

"Hold on a moment, King, isn't this too rash?" Matteus' expression changed violently as he stood. "Please reconsider, there are still many matters I've yet to bring to the table.

"Though what the child said about us is partially true, it is not completely so. Even without technology, we have access to many mystical means far beyond what mere –"

Arthur rose a hand, his eyes remaining closed.

"That's enough. I've understood most things but my decision remains the same. If you would like to stay as ambassadors to my Kingdom, please feel free to do so – we will accommodate you appropriately."

Matteus' expression froze. Were things really going to end just like that? How had they lost to a kid who barely spoke a few words?

Unfortunately, Matteus didn't really understand the backstory of it all. There were too many versions of the King Arthur story. He was shocked enough that Mordred was a woman, he would have never guessed that she was also Arthur's daughter.

These intricacies were all things that Leonel picked up by being front and center within Camelot. Of course, he also got a bit lucky by being placed within the same trial as Mordred as well. But, regardless, these were all things outside of Matteus' grasp.

Matteus didn't know what to say or how. Arthur's words were so final that any attempt he made to change them would come off as a sign of hostility.

Laeron's gaze flashed with killing intent as he swept it over Zindi.

"Almost killed by who?"

"Stop wasting my time, Laeron. Have a good reason for stopping me or I'm leaving right now." Zindi replied without fear.

Laeron continued to coldly glare at Zindi as though he hadn't heard a word she said.

"Alright, alright." The blond man stepped in. "That's enough. I'm sure you had a reason for leading us here instead of letting us go home to report this, correct?"

The blond man was known as Ameron. His words seemed to hold quite some weight because instead of continuing to glare at Zindi, Laeron took another long puff and exhaled slowly.

"... You guys plan to go back and report a failure? Why? So that you can fall even more out of favor?"

"What are you trying to say, Laeron?" Ameron's gaze narrowed.

"I'm saying that you're giving up too soon, tucking your tails and running just because a fairy tale character told you no?" Laeron chuckled, taking another big puff.

"And what do you want us to do about it exactly?" Zindi interjected.

Matteus turned an eye toward Laeron. Clearly, he was interested as well.

"Didn't I already give you the answer?" Laeron smiled slyly. "Do you get the impression from them that they understand that they're nothing but a bedtime story?"

The three's eyes widened as Laeron continued.

"I noticed that that 'Queen Guinevere' was quite close to that 'Demon Empress' in the court room, they were even holding hands at the end there like a pair of girlpals. I have a gut feeling that folk tale of a King only made such a decision because he sided with his wife.

"I wonder how he'd react if he knew aside from being the legendary boy who pulled the sword from the stone that.... he was just as legendary of a cuck?"